Massive Job Cuts Coming At Sun-Sentinel, Tally Chief Volunteers

Management at the Sun-Sentinel is compiling a list of 50 to 60 newsroom staffers as potential buyout candidates, which it will submit to the Tribune Co. corporate office in Chicago on Friday, according to sources in the newsroom.

Some of the more tenured reporters have been volunteering for the buyouts, according to sources, including veteran Tallahassee Bureau Chief Linda Kleindienst. I contacted Kleindienst at her office and, while declining to discuss specifics, she did confirm that she had made the offer to editors earlier today.

Kleindienst is one of the longest tenured writers at the newspaper having been there since 1971. A self-professed "government and politics junkie," she has been covering the capital for more than 25 years.

The job cuts were more than hinted at last week when Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell issued a memo to newspaper staffers across the country saying that "the model for newspapers no longer works" and his right-hand man, Randy Michaels, talked of coming layoffs. The cuts at the Sentinel will likely be on par -- at least in terms of a percentage basis -- with the 250 buyouts/layoffs announced at the Miami Herald on Monday. The Palm Beach Post is also expected to announce massive job cuts in the coming days, according to sources in that newsroom.